Friends of Socialist China, Author at Friends of Socialist China

Russia, socialist countries greet China’s 77th National Day

Leaders of socialist and progressive countries have extended their greetings to the People’s Republic of China on the occasion of its 77th national day, which fell on October 1st.

In his message of greetings to Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin wrote that:

“Under your leadership, China is achieving impressive success in the socioeconomic, scientific, and technological spheres and making a significant contribution to addressing key regional and global issues.”

He added that: “I am confident that our meeting during the APEC summit in Shenzhen this November will be productive and will contribute to further strengthening the comprehensive partnership and strategic interaction between Russia and China.”

Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko wrote to Xi Jinping: “Under your leadership, China is confidently advancing toward the comprehensive rejuvenation of the great Chinese nation, demonstrating impressive achievements in developing new quality productive forces, strengthening technological sovereignty and modernizing its economy.”

Ahead of the 35th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries, Aleksandr Lukashenko renewed his invitation to Xi Jinping to pay an official visit to Belarus next year. “Your visit would give special significance to the anniversary and mark the starting point for a new stage in Belarus-China relations.”

The leader of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) Kim Jong Un wrote to his Chinese counterpart: “Since the founding of new China, the wise and diligent Chinese people have made world-startling progress in the whole realms of the development of the state and built a modern socialist China, weathering through all challenges and trials of history by dint of perseverance and united efforts.

“The noteworthy successes, being achieved in recent years in the fresh course of realizing the socialist ideology of the new era with the Chinese characteristics on a full scale in response to the spirit of the 20th Congress of the Party, enhance the country’s overall national power and international position and, at the same time, clearly show that nothing can check the Chinese people’s cause of building a powerful country and promoting the national prosperity.

“We are sincerely rejoiced over the achievements made in our socialist neighbor, and are convinced that the Chinese people will surely achieve the great prosperity of the Chinese nation under the correct leadership of the Communist Party of China with esteemed Comrade General Secretary Xi Jinping as its core.”

He added that: “The history of the DPRK-China friendship, which was forged at the cost of blood and has been carried forward with genuine comradely friendship, can never be shaken no matter how the international situation may change, and it is the steadfast will of our Party and government to steadily develop the traditional relations of unity and cooperation with socialism, the common ideal, common banner and common cause, as the core.”

Additionally, DPRK Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui wrote to her Chinese counterpart Wang Yi, noting that through the historic Pyongyang meeting and talks in June, the top leaders of the two parties and the two countries reconfirmed the steadfast will to build a beautiful future of the two peoples together on the road of struggle for socialism.

The DPRK Association for Cultural Exchange with Foreign Countries and the DPRK-China Friendship Association hosted a reception on September 29.

Speakers noted that the Chinese people have brought about world-startling miracles and changes, braving all challenges and trials, closely united around the Communist Party of China for the past 77 years since the founding of the new China.

They expressed the belief that the traditional DPRK-China friendship would, in the future, too, grow stronger in response to the requirements of the times, saying that it is the steadfast stand of the parties and governments of the two countries to strengthen and develop the friendly relations between the DPRK and China.

A reception was also hosted by Wang Yajun, Chinese ambassador to the DPRK. Kim Hyong Sik, vice-chairman of the Standing Committee of the Supreme People’s Assembly of the DPRK said that the founding of the People’s Republic of China is an epochal event that opened up a new phase in shaping the destiny of the Chinese people and laid a firm foundation for them to proudly emerge in the world arena and achieve the prosperity of the Chinese nation.

He expressed the will to make joint efforts, together with the Chinese comrades, to promote exchange and cooperation in all fields and consolidate the DPRK-China friendship in the interests of the peoples of the two countries, true to the spirit of the important agreement between the top leaders of the two parties and two countries.

General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) Central Committee and President To Lam, Prime Minister Le Minh Hung, President of the National Assembly Tran Thanh Man, and Standing Member of the CPV Central Committee’s Secretariat Tran Cam Tu wrote to General Secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and President Xi Jinping, Premier of the State Council Li Qiang, Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress Zhao Leji, and Cai Qi, Member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, Secretary of the CPC Central Committee’s Secretariat and Chief of the CPC Central Committee’s Office.

They expressed their belief that under the leadership of the CPC Central Committee, with General Secretary and President Xi at its core, China will successfully achieve its goal of building a strong, prosperous, democratic, culturally advanced, harmonious and beautiful modern socialist country, while making positive contributions to peace, stability and prosperity in the region and the world.

The Vietnamese Party and State always consider the consolidation and development of a friendly neighbourliness and comprehensive cooperation with China a consistent policy, a strategic choice and a top priority in Vietnam’s foreign policy, they said, affirming Vietnam’s readiness to work with Chinese Party and State leaders to maintain regular exchanges and strengthen strategic guidance.

Additionally, Bui Thi Minh Hoai, Politburo member, Secretary of the CPV Central Committee and President of the Central Committee of the Vietnam Fatherland Front (VFF), sent a congratulatory message to Wang Huning, member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC).

In the message, Hoai expressed her delight that under the wise leadership of the CPC, with General Secretary and President Xi Jinping at the core, the Chinese people have achieved tremendous accomplishments in the cause of reform and opening up and the building of socialism with Chinese characteristics, with the National Committee of the CPPCC making important contributions to these achievements.

“We wish to work together with the National Committee of the CPPCC to further deepen cooperation between the two organisations in the time ahead, with a focus on promoting high-level and multi-level delegation exchanges and enhancing communications and education among people from all walks of life, particularly younger generations, on the traditional friendship between Viet Nam and China.”

Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Lam Thi Phuong Thanh attended and addressed a reception marking the 77th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China.

She extended her warm congratulations on the major achievements attained by the Communist Party of China, the Chinese state and people over 77 years of national development.

In particular, over the past decade, under the leadership of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, with General Secretary and President Xi Jinping at its core, China has successfully built a moderately prosperous society in all respects, bringing greater prosperity and happiness to its people. The country has continued to grow in strength and stature and has played an increasingly important role in global security, development, civilisation and governance.

Wang Qun, Chargé d’Affaires of the Chinese Embassy in Vietnam, said bilateral relations are currently enjoying a very positive period of development. He affirmed that, as the two countries enter a new historical starting point, China stands ready to work alongside Vietnam and continue its efforts to support the industrialisation, modernisation and socialist development of both countries.

Additionally, Vietnamese and Chinese artists shared the stage at the Ho Guom Opera House in Hanoi on October 1 for a vibrant celebration of friendship through music. The concert was jointly hosted by Vietnam’s Ministry of Public Security and the Chinese Embassy in Vietnam and staged by the Ho Guom Opera and China’s National Centre for the Performing Arts.

The evening closed with Do Nhuan’s “Vietnam–China”, bringing together Vietnamese and Chinese soloists, the Hanoi Philharmonic Orchestra and the choirs in a powerful finale. Singer Truong Linh said he was honoured to perform alongside artists from both countries, describing the concert as a meaningful opportunity to showcase Vietnam’s cultural identity while discovering more about Chinese music and culture.

Celebrations were also held in the two countries’ border areas. Vietnam’s Nhân Dân newspaper noted: “Viet Nam and China are friendly neighbouring countries, with mountains and rivers connected. The friendship painstakingly cultivated by generations of leaders of the two countries is a precious asset shared by the two parties, two states, and peoples of the two countries.”

It added that: “In the coming period, under the strategic guidance of the senior leaders of the two parties and two states, Quang Ninh City and the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region will continue to make effective use of exchange and dialogue mechanisms and translate signed agreements and cooperation arrangements into concrete actions. This will contribute to strengthening friendship between the border localities and building the Viet Nam-China Community with a Shared Future with a higher level of strategic significance in the new era.”

General Secretary of the Lao People’s Revolutionary Party (LPRP) Central Committee and President of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic (LPDR) Thongloun Sisoulith also sent congratulations to President Xi Jinping.

President Thongloun noted that the founding of the People’s Republic of China on October 1, 1949 marked an important turning point in the country’s development and its pursuit of socialism with Chinese characteristics. He said Laos viewed China’s development achievements as an encouragement for its own efforts in national defence, construction and development.

The Lao leader also expressed appreciation to the Party, Government and people of China for their support and assistance to Laos over the years, including during the country’s current national development efforts.

He wished the Chinese people continued success in building a modern socialist country with Chinese characteristics under the leadership of the Communist Party of China and conveyed his best wishes to President Xi for good health, happiness and success in his duties.

On social media, Cuban leader Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez wrote: “On the occasion of the 77th anniversary of the foundation of the People’s Republic of China, we extend our warm congratulations to Comrade Xi Jinping, to the Party, to the Government, and to the Chinese people. We express our gratitude for the steadfast solidarity with Cuba, grounded in mutual cooperation and solidarity.”

The Telesur news agency added: “This week, Beijing’s ambassador to Havana, Hua Xin, said that his country and Cuba are ‘a community with a shared future’ and stressed that the Asian nation has consolidated itself as the island’s ‘main trading partner.’ He reiterated that China ‘does not stand idly by in the face of the difficulties faced by the Cuban people’ and highlighted the Asian giant’s contributions to ‘the energy and food sectors’ amid the severe crisis affecting Cuba… China has provided Cuba with two donations of photovoltaic panels totaling 5,000 home solar systems, which have been installed in different parts of the country to provide electricity to homes in rural areas. In addition, Beijing will complete a donation of 60,000 tons of rice this year.”

Telesur also reported that Venezuela congratulated China on its National Day, recognising the achievements of the Chinese people and reaffirming bilateral friendship, cooperation and strategic partnership.

The statement of the Government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela said that: “On this day of profound historical significance for the Chinese nation, Venezuela recognizes the important achievements of the Chinese people while reaffirming the bonds of friendship, cooperation and strategic partnership that unite our two countries. Venezuela wishes the Chinese people well-being and prosperity, as well as the continued strengthening of the fraternal friendship between our two nations.”

Workers World salutes socialist China at 77

In the following editorial, the US communist newspaper Workers World salutes socialist China on the 77th anniversary of its foundation (October 1, 1949 – October 1, 2026).

Surveying New China’s achievements, it notes: “Today, in 2026, China’s achievements have astounded the world. Before the Revolution less than 20% of the population could read and write. Now literacy stands at 95%. Before 1949 extreme poverty was widespread, and famines occurred regularly. But socialist China has eliminated extreme poverty for 800 million people.”

Citing leading Workers World Party member Sara Flounders, writing in the book China Changes Everything, the editorial continues: “A significant portion of China’s free higher education starts with an emphasis on STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) education, graduating some 3.5 million STEM graduates each year. This is approximately 10 times as many as those from U.S. educational institutions… Women, who were brutally oppressed in the old, patriarchal China, now comprise a large number of these graduates.”

China, it adds, has extended solidarity to Iran and Cuba in the midst of US imperialism’s hostility towards both countries. It has also provided vital technology to Global South countries, especially in Africa.

The article references a 1949 speech by Mao Zedong in which the Chinese leader warned that the country’s former imperialist rulers “are sure to engage in sabotage and create disturbances by one means or another, and every day and every minute they will try to stage a come-back,” and adds: “This remains true 77 years later.”

Concluding, it states that what makes China’s achievements possible “is that China is a socialist country, where the betterment of the masses comes before the profits of a handful of billionaires.”

AUKUS at five

In the following article, which was originally published in the Morning Star, Jenny Clegg notes that five years have passed since the shock announcement of AUKUS – a three-way military pact between Australia, Britain and the US.

It is also, she notes, five years since Labour CND’s emergency motion opposing the deal gained over 70 per cent of the vote at the Labour Party conference. AUKUS, the motion stated, was in breach of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) stipulation that exchanging non-nuclear for nuclear technology must be for peaceful purposes.

But it is, Jenny continued, as if this vote never happened, “the Labour government now has not only embraced Aukus but expanded its commitment”.

“Australia has become the first country to break its non-nuclear status by acquiring nuclear-powered submarines. In the absence of proper public debate, peace groups and trade unions have now launched an independent public inquiry into the project sponsored by a new initiative – the Australian Peace and Security Forum.”

Adding that now seems as good a time as any to take stock of what it is exactly the British government has committed to, Jenny proceeds to give a detailed breakdown and concludes that former prime minister Keir Starmer had “saved AUKUS”:

“Britain then is deeply implicated in the violations of the NPT, in placing Australia on the front line of a US war on China and stoking a new arms race. As well Australia has become alienated from its regional neighbours — the south-east Asia states and Pacific Islanders, who after decades of nuclear testing now see their hard-won Nuclear Weapons Free Zones brushed aside.”

The government, Jenny writes, “claims that Aukus offers a ‘generational chance to revitalise the UK industrial base’ but CND’s Alternative Defence Review (2025) exposes the wastefulness of ‘military Keynesianism’ sucking desperately needed funds and skills from areas more beneficial to the economy. By the 2050s, when they are made fully operational, the submarines will likely be outdated. Spending billions is clearly a decision heavily influenced by the profit motives of the arms industry.

“Progress is slow too on Pillar 2’s Darc — Deep Space Advanced Radar Capability system — in Wales linking with facilities in North West Australia and Texas as part of Trump’s Golden Dome. Local opposition is building.”

Jenny concludes: “With the US military now swarming over Australian bases, the independent inquiry, due to report later this year, has been holding hearings in different locations around the country. Supported by crowdfunding through trade unions, environmental and other NGOs as well as individuals, the inquiry is led by a former environment minister with a team including a former admiral, a former state politician and leader of the Australian Labour Party, a human rights lawyer and a representative of the country’s First Nations.

“With a remit covering costs and jobs, strategic rationale, nuclear non-proliferation and environmental impact, it provides the space to conceive a different future for Australia which may prove to be the spark for a really broad popular front against militarisation. The anti-war movement in Britain should take note.”

Full details of the Australian inquiry, including all the submissions it has received, can be found here.

China, Brazil, and the building of socialism in the 21st century

During a recent visit to Brazil, Friends of Socialist China co-editor Carlos Martinez was interviewed by Flora Villela of Brasil de Fato in Belo Horizonte, where he was taking part in the debate “China and Socialism in the Global Geopolitical Dispute”, organised by the Landless Workers’ Movement (MST).

In the interview, Carlos makes the case for the socialist character of contemporary China; discusses Western media stereotypes and what democracy actually means in Britain and in China; sets out the transition from a US-led imperialist system towards a multipolar world; and addresses what China can and cannot do in defence of countries under attack by the US, as well as the wars in Iran and Ukraine.

We are pleased to reproduce an English translation of the interview, which first appeared in Portuguese in Brasil de Fato.

China and the construction of socialism in the 21st century: expert discusses conflicts and prospects

Author, researcher and activist Carlos Martinez defends the socialist character of contemporary China

By Flora Villela

We are living through one of the most tense moments in global geopolitics: not since the Second World War has the planet seen a period with so many simultaneous armed conflicts and wars.

At the centre of these challenges are military arbitrariness and economic policies imposed on various countries by the world’s greatest power – the United States; new technologies represent civilisational challenges for every nation; authoritarianism is regaining ground and eroding democracies; and the conflicts threaten to produce economic crises that would generate widespread poverty.

Despite this scenario, China continues to emerge as the world’s new economic power, following, by all indications, a path centred on peace. And the defence of multilateralism as a solution to the crisis is gaining strength, particularly in the so-called Global South. Nonetheless, “there is a whole campaign of defamation, a propaganda war in an attempt to win public support for increasingly hostile policies towards China, which at the moment take the form of a Cold War with tariffs, semiconductor restrictions, sanctions and unilateral, coercive economic measures”, argues Carlos Martinez.

A co-editor of the Friends of Socialist China website, an author, researcher and activist, Martinez has written the books The East Is Still Red: Chinese Socialism in the 21st Century and The End of the Beginning: Lessons from the Soviet Collapse. His work focuses on dispelling what he considers an “enormous misunderstanding in relation to China”.

“Even on the left, there is an assumption that China is just another capitalist country and that the conflict between the US and China is an example of imperialist rivalry or the so-called ‘Thucydides Trap’. So in my work I try to explain the true nature of China and of Chinese socialism, and at the same time to counter anti-China propaganda”, he explains.

During a visit to Belo Horizonte to take part in the debate “China and Socialism in the Global Geopolitical Dispute”, the author spoke to Brasil de Fato MG. In the interview, we discussed the conflicts under way around the world, the role of Brazil and of this year’s elections, the dispute over global hegemony, and the path of multilateralism and peace.

“It will be a long and painful process towards our post-imperialist world, but I believe that in the end humanity will get there”, says Martinez.

John Ross: What’s behind the positive Xi–Trump summit?

In a recent interview on India & Global Left, British economist John Ross, senior fellow at the Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies at Renmin University of China, discusses the significance of Xi Jinping’s state visit to the United States. In his view, the summit was positive mainly for what did not happen: Washington launched no new attack on China. The relative stability between the two countries reflects not goodwill but China’s strength – after Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs ran into China’s counter-measures on rare earths, the US switched to going after other targets.

That approach, John argues, has largely failed. The attempted “reverse Kissinger” to detach Russia from China has gone nowhere; Cuba has not buckled under the oil blockade; and in the war on Iran, “this is a fifteen-round contest and we’re probably up to about round five – but so far Iran’s won all five of the rounds.”

He characterises the New Cold War as, to an extent, the reverse of the first one. The Soviet Union was a military equal of the US but never an economic one, so Washington shifted the contest onto economic terrain. Today China is outgrowing the US and leading in EVs, batteries, drones, biotech and parts of AI, so the US seeks to shift the contest onto military terrain – hence the encouragement of German and Japanese rearmament, the military pressure on Venezuela, Cuba and Iran, and the attempts to stir up trouble in the South China Sea.

The interview also covers the security picture in East Asia, Europe’s self-defeating subordination to Washington, and why the Global South will keep trading with China regardless.

John will be among the speakers at the Socialist China Conference in London on Saturday 3 October. Tickets are available on Eventbrite.

China isn’t imperialist – here’s the proof

Is China simply another imperialist power, differing from the US only in degree? It’s a claim heard increasingly often on the left, from the Communist Party of Greece to Jacobin. This video sets out why that claim doesn’t survive scrutiny.

Working from Lenin’s classical definition of imperialism, Carlos Martinez examines whether China exhibits the super-exploitation of foreign labour that has always been imperialism’s economic core – and finds the opposite: China has been on the receiving end of value extraction by Western capital, not a source of it. The video looks at the real record of the Belt and Road Initiative against the “debt trap” accusation, at China’s strikingly peaceful military record since 1949, and at whether the underlying class dynamics of Chinese society could ever produce an imperialist foreign policy. And it closes by asking what China’s promotion of a multipolar world order means for the long-term prospects of overcoming imperialism altogether.

The video is based on Carlos’s chapter in the newly-released book China’s Foreign Policy and the Making of a Multipolar World, co-edited by Keith Bennett and Carlos Martinez, available now from Praxis Press.

Ma Haide – a bridge of friendship between China and Lebanon

Marking the 90th anniversary of the successful conclusion of the Long March, we recently republished an article from China Today introducing the contributions made at that time by two young Americans, Edgar Snow and George Hatem (Ma Haide).

The below article, which was originally published in The Beiruter, introduces Hatem’s connection to his ancestral home country of Lebanon, with the help of exclusive interviews with his family, unpublished letters, rare photographs and original reporting, and outlines how this connection still helps to form a bridge of friendship between the Chinese and Lebanese peoples.

It recounts how, in an October 1983 letter to family members, Hatem thanks his relatives for the olives they had sent from Lebanon. He asks about Hammana, his family’s hometown. He worries about the civil war then consuming his ancestral homeland. And he sends warm wishes to every member of the family.

“Thousands of kilometers away, the physician revered across China as Ma Haide, the man who helped transform the country’s fight against leprosy and sexually transmitted diseases, and [one of] the first foreigner[s] to become a citizen of the People’s Republic of China, was writing not as a revolutionary or a national hero, but as George, a relative who had never stopped thinking about home.”

Like thousands of Lebanese emigrants at the turn of the twentieth century, Ma Haide’s father, Nahoum Salameh Hatem, left Mount Lebanon in search of opportunity in the United States. Although raised in America, George spent summers in Hammana with relatives, forging a connection to Lebanon that distance would never erase.

After studying at the University of North Carolina, the American University of Beirut (AUB) and the University of Geneva, the newly graduated physician boarded a ship to Shanghai in 1933 with two fellow American doctors. The plan was simple: gain experience, practice medicine and eventually return to the United States.

He never did. Arriving in Shanghai, he opened a dermatology and venereal disease practice. Beyond the city’s modern façade, he soon discovered a different China. Patients suffered from illnesses driven as much by poverty, overcrowding and exploitation as by disease itself, leading him to question not only how to treat illness, but the conditions that created it.

He also met people who would shape his future. Through American journalist Agnes Smedley, he was introduced to Soong Ching-ling, widow of Sun Yat-sen, the founder of modern China, and later to Zhou Enlai, who would become the first premier of the People’s Republic of China.

In 1936, Hatem left Shanghai for the communist base area of Yan’an together with American journalist Edgar Snow, convinced he was going not where life would be easiest, but where a doctor was needed most.

Unlike the many foreigners who passed briefly through Yan’an, Hatem chose to stay. In 1937 he became a member of the Communist Party of China. According to family accounts, Mao Zedong waived the usual probationary period, telling colleagues that Ma Haide had already proven his commitment through his work rather than words. And in 1950, he was one of the first foreigners to become a citizen of the newly-founded People’s Republic of China.

He would serve as Chairman Mao’s personal physician while helping establish medical services for the Red Army, training healthcare workers and building the foundations of a modern military health system and then leading the country’s post-liberation fight to eliminate leprosy. He later described his time in Yan’an as “the happiest, most meaningful and most extraordinary years” of his life.

After decades apart, he finally met his father again in 1962, in the Syrian capital, Damascus, it not being possible for him to visit Lebanon as a Chinese citizen at that time. He was finally able to visit the country in 1974.

The article adds: “His connection to Lebanon did not end with those visits. Decades after his death, it continues to bring China back to the mountain village where his family’s story began.

“‘I was working when two young women approached me speaking English,’ [his cousin Joseph] Rached said. ‘“Is your mother Mary Hatem? Is this Dr. Hatem’s family home?” I said yes. Then they told me, “The Chinese ambassador wants to meet you.”’

“According to Rached, that visit marked the beginning of a tradition that continues today. Every Chinese ambassador appointed to Lebanon has visited the Hatem family in Hammana to pay tribute to Ma Haide… The Chinese Embassy later erected a bronze statue honoring Hatem in the village where his family’s story began, a lasting symbol of the bond between China and Hammana.”

Workers Party leader George Galloway: “We want an economy like China’s”

The Chinese weekly political magazine Beijing Review recently carried edited excerpts from an interview with George Galloway, former member of parliament and leader of the Workers Party of Britain (WPB), with its reporter Zhang Shasha, in which George shared his views on the country’s five-year plans, whole-process people’s democracy and economic transformation; challenged Western perceptions of China’s rise, and discussed how competition can coexist with cooperation in an increasingly uncertain world.

According to George: “Socialism with Chinese characteristics is one of the most important theoretical developments in human society since the Industrial Revolution… China has created something new, something that the world has never seen before.”

The Western political system, he says, is incompatible with long-term planning, “because elections are the only thing that ultimately matter… And if you are only thinking four years ahead, you are inevitably going to make mistakes, even if you have the good intentions, but most of them do not.”

Citing his interest in infrastructure, he refers to a recent visit he made to the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, “which was a very poor place only a few decades ago. Today, it has new infrastructure, new development and public services that are comparable with much richer areas. In many Western countries, a region like Xinjiang would simply be left to decline.”

Asked about the concept of whole-process people’s democracy, he replies: “I hope China continues to get that system right, and everything I hear suggests that the developments China has made are moving in a positive direction.

“For generations, our people believed that we were the democracies, and that countries like China were dictatorships. But it turns out that China has more democratic elements than we do. And that is quite a cultural shock for many people in the West to come to terms with.”

On the economy, he takes air conditioning and cars as examples and concludes, “our political system and our economic system are no longer suited to the 21st century. China’s system is. That is why my party, the Workers Party of Britain, is unapologetic. We say openly: We want an economy like China’s. We want to be like China – but with British characteristics.”

He sounds a note of caution on the international situation: “We are facing a very dangerous period. The recklessness of some political leaders when it comes to matters of war and peace is something I have rarely seen in my lifetime. I thought I grew up in uncertain times, but looking back now, those years seem much more stable compared with what we are experiencing today.

“If countries continue to look at each other with suspicion and treat each other as permanent enemies, we will not be able to solve the challenges facing humanity.”

George Galloway is the Workers Party of Britain’s candidate in the October 8 by-election for the parliamentary seat of Holborn and St. Pancras in north London, caused by the resignation of former prime minister Keir Starmer.

A total of 15 candidates are contesting the seat. Seeking to hold it for the Labour Party is Sagal Abdi-Wali. Currently the leader of Camden Council, in which the constituency is located, she originally came to Britain as a child refugee from Somalia. However, she is firmly on the right of the party and known to be close to Starmer. The leader of the Green Party Zack Polanski is seeking to become his party’s first London MP. He previously contested a by-election for a council seat in the constituency in 2015 for the Liberal Democrats.

Han Zheng at the UN: China will join hands with all other countries to make the world a better place

The 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) general debate was held in New York, September 22–28.

Han Zheng, Vice President of the People’s Republic of China addressed the assembly on September 26.

Having referred to the four major global initiatives put forward by President Xi Jinping, starting with the Global Development Initiative, proposed five years ago at the 76th session, Han said:

“At a time when countries of the world find their future so closely linked, more and more of them want to join hands to shoulder the historic mission of addressing difficulties and challenges, and advancing the well-being of all humanity.”

With this in mind, he proposed four steps:

We should safeguard the postwar international order and foster lasting peace based on common security. The world wants peace, not war. We should turn into action the vision of common, comprehensive, cooperative, and sustainable security, and reject the Cold War mindset and bloc confrontation. We should settle differences and disputes through dialogue and consultation and oppose unilateral military actions that violate the UN Charter and circumvent Security Council authorisation. Major countries shoulder special responsibilities for safeguarding international peace and security, and they should take the lead in complying with rules, upholding rule of law and doing what’s right.

He added: “China calls for advancing the governance of the West Bank and the post-conflict reconstruction of Gaza in accordance with the principle of the Palestinians governing Palestine… China urges the relevant country to immediately stop using threat of force against Cuba and immediately and completely lift the blockade and sanctions against Cuba.”

We should address the global development predicament and promote prosperity for all through openness and cooperation. It is important to give priority to key areas including poverty reduction, food security and energy transition, step up resource input, and increase support for countries in the Global South. Developed countries should honour their commitment to development financing and climate financing. Facing a new scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation, especially the dynamic development of artificial intelligence, we should take a people-centred approach and develop AI for the positive and for good, narrow the digital divide, and promote development that is universally beneficial.
We should advance exchanges and mutual learning among civilisations and rebuild unity and mutual trust through communication and dialogue. We should reject ideological prejudice and respect the development paths and social systems decided on independently by the people of all countries. We should deepen the sharing of governance practices and jointly explore ways to tackle challenges facing our times.
We should stay committed to multilateralism and take steps to safeguard fairness and justice. Multilateralism is the choice made by humanity after going through scourges, and fairness and justice are the joint pursuit of the people of all countries. China holds that all countries, big or small, are equal members of the international community, and that world affairs should be handled by all through consultation, and rule of law, fairness and justice in international affairs should be jointly upheld. The UN should effectively address global challenges including climate change and public health security, improve governance rules in such areas as cyberspace, outer space and polar regions, and truly increase the representation and voice of the Global South.

Noting that it was on October 25, 1971, that the General Assembly adopted Resolution 2758 by an overwhelming majority, by which the UNGA decided to restore all the rights of the People’s Republic of China in the UN and recognise the representatives of the Government of the People’s Republic of China as the only legitimate representatives of China to the UN, Han continued:

“Over the past 55 years, China has been a stabilising force in times of volatility. China is firmly committed to pursuing peaceful development and has the best track record on peace and security among major countries. It is the largest contributor of peacekeepers among the permanent members of the UN Security Council. It also took the initiative that led to the issuance of the first joint statement of the leaders of the five nuclear-weapon states on preventing nuclear war. China has been a main engine driving common development. China has created two miracles at home, namely, fast economic growth and long-term social stability, and it has, over many years, contributed around 30 percent to global growth. China has joined hands with more than three fourths of the countries in the world in pursuing high-quality Belt and Road cooperation, it has mobilised over 23 billion US dollars and carried out more than 2,000 projects under the Global Development Initiative, and it has granted zero-tariff status to all the African countries and least developed countries having diplomatic relations with it to empower the Global South in pursuing modernisation. China has been a progressive force in an era of change. China has always spoken up for the Global South, stood up for the legitimate rights and interests of developing countries, and continued to work toward a more just and equitable global governance system. In October, China will host the Global Governance Forum in the Xiong’an New Area. You are welcome to attend the forum and join the discussion about the way forward in global governance.”

He concluded: “China will join hands with all other countries to build a community with a shared future for humanity and make the world a better place for all of us.”

We need to talk about China

In the following article, Friends of Socialist China co-editor Carlos Martinez sets out the agenda for the third annual Socialist China Conference, taking place in London on Saturday 3 October.

Carlos notes that the British ruling class – the security state and its media representatives above all – talks about China constantly, from Chinese “kill switches” in wind turbines to Beijing supposedly funding the Palestine marches. The conference is a chance for the left to get a word in: on the drive to war in the Asia-Pacific, on what China’s achievements in poverty eradication, infrastructure and renewable energy mean for workers in Britain, on the shifting of global opinion in China’s favour, and on turning the “Chinamaxxing” mood among young people into political understanding.

This article first appeared in the Morning Star.

If the right-wing press is to be believed, Britain is under systematic attack by the cunning Chinese communists.

Over the past couple of months, we have been warned that Beijing is funding the Palestine marches; that these perennial evil-doers are hacking our tractors; that Chinese-made wind turbines may be fitted with kill switches; and that a Chinese-owned hotel in Cyprus has a suspiciously good view of RAF Akrotiri.

Former MI6 chief Sir Richard Dearlove has claimed that China “could switch off our power grid at any second.”

The British ruling class – and particularly the security state and its media representatives – talks about China constantly, so it is probably a good idea for us to get a word in. That is what the third annual Socialist China Conference, in London this Saturday, is for.

War and peace

China’s unprecedented rise took the West by surprise. Washington’s strategists expected the country to remain at or near the bottom of the global economic hierarchy for decades or centuries, but today’s China is the world’s second-largest economy and is growing at more than twice the rate of the US economy; it is also the world’s largest trading nation and manufacturer.

It is a world leader in renewable energy, high-speed rail, space exploration, telecommunications and advanced manufacturing, and is catching up quickly in cutting-edge digital technologies.

Xi meets Trump – two visions collide

Chinese President Xi Jinping paid a state visit to the United States of America from September 23 to 25 at the invitation of President Donald J. Trump. It was his first state visit to the country since September 2015, during the Barack Obama administration, and follows President Trump’s state visit to China in May this year.

On the eve of the visit, the Morning Star published an editorial, arguing that this visit “could scarcely come at a more critical moment”, with:

Two already-disastrous wars threatening to spin out of control, in Ukraine and in the Gulf
Alarm mounting at the dangers posed by artificial intelligence
Growing levels of debt threatening to deepen problems in the global capitalist economy
The menace of climate change developing apace

All of these crises, the paper argues, “are rooted in the workings of imperialism today, in the dynamics for its ceaseless drive for capital accumulation on a global scale, its search for the greatest possible profit through international competition and coercion.”

Furthermore: “In Trump this failing system has an appropriate, if highly dangerous, lead representative. His actions, animated both by a bullying ‘America First’ aggression and a drive for personal and financial self-aggrandisement, have made every aspect of the threats facing the world worse.

“Yet for all his bluster and military adventures, Trump approaches his summit with Xi as the weaker party in some respects.”

Among the reasons for this are that: “In contrast to Trump, Beijing continues to uphold international law and the authority of the United Nations — thin defences against the depredations of imperialism but a base to build on rather than an edifice to be torn down…

“Xi also leads a cohesive society developing apace along almost every indicator of human well-being. Trump’s US by contrast is choking on its own divisions, including rampant racism, the removal of all restraints on private and corporate greed and the negation of the rights notionally provided for under the constitution.”

From this, the paper concludes: “Because of this it is, alas, unlikely that the meeting will lead to any great breakthroughs on major issues… Ultimately, the meeting between Xi and Trump is a meeting of a plausible future for the international order and a dystopian present. Xi and the Communist Party of China he leads bear much of the hopes of the world in the present crisis.”

China and Russia veto bid to pressure Iran

An attempt by the United States, supported by Britain and France, to further misuse the United Nations to put pressure on Iran suffered a setback on September 17 when China and Russia vetoed a proposed extension to the mandate of the UN Security Council’s Panel of Experts on Iran. Pakistan and Somalia abstained on the vote.

The New York Times reported: “Fu Cong, China’s UN ambassador, urged Council members to avoid ‘double standards, political manipulation, pressure and confrontation’. It added that he described the US decisions to pull out of a 2015 nuclear agreement with Iran and to wage war against the country this year were ‘at the root of the current crisis’.”

The New York Times added: “The latest confrontation at the UN came the day after a high-level meeting between the foreign ministers of China and Iran in Beijing, at a time when Mr. Trump appears to be running out of options on Iran.”

Iran’s Press TV reported that the country’s Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf said that the “unipolar order” has ended after China and Russia rejected the political abuse of the UN Security Council by the United States and its allies.

In a post on X, Qalibaf added: “China and Russia’s vetoes rejected the political abuse of the Security Council and reaffirmed the rule of law. We must defend multilateralism; unilateralism serves no one’s interests.”

Iran’s UN mission said China and Russia have “once again stood firmly in defence of the UN Charter, international law, and the integrity of the Council” and prevented “yet another cynical attempt by the United States and its allies to abuse the Security Council for their political purposes”. Iran expressed its deep appreciation to them for their “consistent and principled positions and decisive actions today”. The mission also commended Somalia and Pakistan for their “valuable positions and abstentions”.

This is a book above all for the new generation mobilised by Gaza

The following is the full text of the remarks prepared by Keith Bennett for the 20 September online launch of China’s Foreign Policy and the Making of a Multipolar World: Changes Unseen in a Century, which he edited along with Carlos Martinez. (His speech as delivered was abbreviated due to time constraints.)

Taking up the concept of changes unseen in a century, advanced by Xi Jinping and incorporated into the book’s title, Keith notes that: “One key manifestation of this in our part of the world can be summed up in three words: Gaza changes everything.”

He adds that: “It is above all this new generation coming to anti-imperialist politics that we hope our book can reach.”

The book is available from socialistbooks.com. The discount code CHINA35 gives 35 percent off all titles from the publishers Praxis Press until the end of the year.

In his testimonial for the book that we’ve been launching online today, George Galloway, as most if not all of you will know currently a parliamentary candidate for the constituency recently held by the prime minister of the United Kingdom, writes:

“Only the light-hearted care naught for where China goes next. The future of China will shape yours.”

One might disagree with George on many things, but on this at least reasonable people should surely not differ.

Yet, as China, to paraphrase Xi Jinping, steadily advances to the centre of the world stage, in our part of the world there is still a dearth of serious scholarship and a serious lack of understanding of what is actually happening, how the country and its leadership actually thinks and acts, and how that is changing the face not only of China but of the world as a whole.

There is not a shortage of copy per se. If you pick up a comic like the Telegraph, the Mail or the Murdoch Times, you can, on a daily basis, read entertaining fiction, suggesting for example that China is bugging tractors in order to harvest the kind of prosaic information readily available on a government website. Slightly more sophisticated versions of the same are offered by the chronically anachronistic voice of classical liberalism, The Economist, and even the venerable pink paper, the Financial Times.

There are a few, but still far too few, books offering excellent Marxist analysis of China, including from Carlos Martinez, Jenny Clegg, and the late and always much missed Jude Woodward. And from John Ross, Ken Hammond and Roland Boer. There are also the rightly popular work of Martin Jacques and the phenomenal scholarship of Peter Nolan.

Yet if you go into a branch of Waterstones, for example, with the possible exception of Martin Jacques’ key work, thanks in large part to its brilliantly provocative title, you’re highly unlikely to find any of these authors.

What you’re likely to find is the scribblings of the renegade Jung Chang, who serves up a diet of political pornography thinly disguised as biography; of the charlatan Gordon Chang, who informed us in 2001 that China was certain to collapse by 2011, yet is still, presumably as a kind of therapy, periodically paraded in public as some kind of China expert; or of Frank Dikötter, whose dubious scholarship would have us believe that the greatest revolution in human history is little more than one great, century-long criminal conspiracy.

What this all reflects is that the battle on the ideological front, and the battle for public opinion, are key parts of the cold war against socialism and human progress; and are key fronts in the class struggle.

Chairman Mao observed that to make a revolution it is always necessary first of all to create public opinion. And the same goes for counter-revolution.

It was precisely in order to take up that battle for public opinion, as a key front in the class struggle, the struggle for peace and against war, the struggle for socialism and against barbarism, that, in May 2021, Carlos, Danny Haiphong and myself, took the initiative to establish Friends of Socialist China. And why Carlos and myself embarked on this book project.

As they have demonstrated again in their contributions today, the authors represent some of the finest activist scholars working in the China field today. We are indebted to them for giving so generously of their time and their wisdom.

I use the designation activist scholars advisedly. This is exactly what we are aiming for. As Stalin well put it in his celebrated work, Foundations of Leninism:

“Of course, theory becomes purposeless if it is not connected with revolutionary practice, just as practice gropes in the dark if its path is not illumined by revolutionary theory. But theory can become a tremendous force in the working-class movement if it is built up in indissoluble connection with revolutionary practice.”

Review: China’s Foreign Policy and the Making of a Multipolar World

We are very pleased to publish the detailed review below by Dr Francisco Dominguez of the recently published ‘China’s Foreign Policy and the Making of a Multipolar World: Changes unseen in a century’, edited by Keith Bennett and Carlos Martinez. Francisco is one of the foremost anti-imperialist scholars and activists in Britain. Originally a political refugee from Pinochet’s Chile, he was the head of the Research Group on Latin America at Middlesex University and is the National Secretary of the Venezuela Solidarity Campaign and an executive committee member of the Cuba Solidarity Campaign.

Francisco goes through the book chapter by chapter and concludes that it is “a book that is a must read”.

It was launched online on 20 September and is available from socialistbooks.com. The discount code CHINA35 gives 35 percent off all titles from the publishers Praxis Press until the end of the year.

Three features define the contours that this book seeks to scrutinise in its examination of China’s foreign policy. The first is the proposition that “the world is presently witnessing changes unseen in a century”, whose pace and scale have intensified dramatically. The second concerns the transformation of China’s foreign policy, hitherto moulded by the principle of “hide our capacities and bide our time” and the practice of “being good at maintaining a low profile”, but now “replaced by a more assertive and proactive strategy” aimed at promoting the interests of the Global South, advancing peace and common security, and pursuing a more just world order. The third is an exploration of the historical roots and theoretical foundations of China’s foreign policy. This is quite an undertaking for a group of nine intellectual cadres, each addressing specific dimensions of China’s foreign policy, which has itself become a crucial factor in the ongoing “changes unseen in a century”.

The images on the book’s cover provide an intriguing foretaste of its content. The first depicts the 1955 Bandung Conference, at which the then Third World—represented by 29 participating countries, and still largely confined to aspirational declarations—expressed its desire for a “more just world system”, free from colonial oppression and founded upon respect for the national sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries. The conference also featured Zhou Enlai’s proposal, on behalf of the recently founded People’s Republic of China, of the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence.

Japan is further down the road of remilitarisation than at any point since 1945

18 September marked the 95th anniversary of the September 18th Incident, the staged explosion in Northeast China that Japanese forces used as the pretext for the invasion and occupation of Manchuria – and the opening act of the Second World War in Asia. China Daily marked the anniversary by speaking to commentators and peace campaigners in China and Europe, among them our co-editor Carlos Martinez.

Carlos told the paper that the anniversary finds Japan further down the road of remilitarisation than at any point since 1945, pointing to a record military budget, deepening military integration with the United States, and Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s provocative statements on Taiwan. The danger, he argued, is that Japan is being turned into a forward military platform in Washington’s strategic competition with Beijing – a country that already hosts around 50,000 US military personnel and occupies the central position in the US alliance system in East Asia.

He described the nuclear question as particularly serious, citing the warning from Tomoko Tamura, chair of the Japanese Communist Party, that the introduction of US nuclear weapons would make Japan a frontline base in a possible nuclear conflict. “In the only country ever subjected to atomic attack, that is the measure of how far the US alliance has hollowed out Japan’s postwar pacifism. The peoples of East Asia have every interest in refusing it.”

The other contributors make a related point: that remembering this history is not a matter of stoking hatred but of understanding how aggression escalates when the international community fails to respond – as the League of Nations failed to respond in 1931 – and that a broad rightward shift in Japanese society is drowning out the ordinary Japanese people who want peace.

China at the UN: peace, development, and fairness

The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) is holding its 81st annual general debate in New York, September 22–28.

Referring to this, the Chinese newspaper Global Times published an editorial commentary on 20 September, which starkly contrasted the two very different world views that will contend at this global gathering:

“What should the world expect to hear? Gaza’s children weeping, small island states crying for help, the Global South demanding development and fairness.”

Referring to the heavy restrictions placed on the Iranian delegation attending the meeting and the outright denial of visas to delegates from Palestine, it notes:

“Iran is right: Attendance is a legal right, not a favour. By extension, peace is a right, development is a right, and so is not being left behind in the AI era. This is the fair word China will speak. If delegates can enter the UN hall only at the host’s discretion, confined by travel limits and a compressed delegation [as in the case of Iran], then international law and the Agreement regarding the Headquarters of the UN are already hollowed out… Harder still: Between the two states at war, Israel is admitted while Palestinian representatives are shut out for taking its war with Israel to international courts. Yet in Gaza’s ruins, families still search for remains, and the blood of women and children remains wet.”

China, it continues, demands an immediate cease-fire, humanitarian access, an end to annexation and a two-state solution. “No cease-fire, no development. No justice, no lasting ceasefire.”

Turning to the issue of climate change, it argues that developed nations must fulfill their climate finance promises. “China is planting trees, installing solar power panels and promoting electric vehicles at scale, sharing technology with its Southern partners because, in the face of the climate crisis, we are all in the same boat.”

Likewise, “China advocates ‘AI for good and for all’, promoting it as a shared resource through open-source initiatives and capacity building, so that African doctors, Southeast Asian teachers and Latin American farmers can all benefit. China seeks no AI hegemony; it simply hopes no child misses out on the future because of where they were born.”

China, it concludes, is ready to stand with all countries that cherish peace and pursue development.

Launching “China’s Foreign Policy and the Making of a Multipolar World”

On 20 September, Friends of Socialist China and the International Manifesto Group, together with Praxis Press, Manifesto Press and the Critical Theory Workshop, held an online launch for the newly-released China’s Foreign Policy and the Making of a Multipolar World: Changes Unseen in a Century. Edited by Keith Bennett and Carlos Martinez, the book brings together nine essays on the history, theory and practice of China’s foreign relations. Chaired by Carlos, the launch heard from contributors Andrew Murray, Danny Haiphong, Mick Dunford, Jenny Clegg, Torkil Lauesen, Ken Hammond and Keith.

The full video of the event is embedded below, and each contribution is also available as a separate video, linked in the text that follows.

A case study in Iran

Carlos opened the launch by explaining why the book was put together. The US-Israeli war on Iran, he argued, is not only an attack on a country Washington and Tel Aviv happen to dislike, but part of a desperate campaign to arrest the whole process of multipolarity. It has failed: Iran’s sovereignty is intact and its strategic relationship with both China and Russia has deepened.

China’s conduct in the war, Carlos suggested, provides a case study for the book’s key arguments. Beijing condemned the aggression from the outset, continued buying the bulk of Iran’s oil in defiance of US sanctions, vetoed Security Council resolutions designed to legitimise the war, and worked persistently with regional countries – most notably Pakistan – towards a ceasefire and negotiated solution. That combination of material solidarity and an unwavering insistence on peace and the UN Charter is what the book sets out to explain: a foreign policy that is “neither the menacing expansionism imagined by the China hawks, nor the timid inadequacy lamented by parts of the Western left”.

Not a Cold War re-run

Andrew Murray, political correspondent of the Morning Star, argued that China’s rise cannot be understood without its corollary, the decay of the United States. After all, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and the financial crash of 2008, had little to do with China. Only now, with US decline and China’s growing weight combined, has the contradiction between imperialism and a Global South in which China plays a leading part clearly become the main contradiction in world politics.

This is not a simple re-run of the Cold War. The Soviet Union faced a far more powerful array of forces, and the mass national liberation and labour movements of that era do not exist in the same form today. Washington has moved from hoping for the incremental restoration of capitalism in China towards military and strategic encirclement, of which AUKUS is but one symptom.

On the charge that China is imperialist, Andrew commended Carlos’s polemic with Greg Godels and offered the historian Victor Kiernan’s definition of imperialism as “coercion exerted abroad, by one means or another, to extort profits above what simple commercial exchange can procure”. That coercive element, he said, is “something which is entirely absent from China’s conduct of international affairs and business”.

China says no to star wars

On 15 September the BBC reported that the United States had confirmed it deployed a space weapon in Earth’s orbit, the first time it has acknowledged such offensive capabilities. The article went on to note that China had responded by warning against an “arms race” in space. A foreign ministry spokesperson in Beijing said: “We urge the US side to stop expanding its military capabilities and preparing for war in outer space.”

On 17 September, the Xinhua News Agency published a commentary, “No new ‘Star Wars’ in space”. It said that “the Moon should not become a new battlefield. Preventing the militarisation of space must remain a basic principle as humanity ventures beyond Earth.”

The 1967 Outer Space Treaty was established precisely to prevent outer space from becoming another arena of confrontation, it noted, adding:

“There is little to be gained by extending the logic of arms rivalry into an environment that humanity is only beginning to explore. More weapons and more military preparations in space would not make the space environment more secure… China has consistently called for the peaceful use of outer space and opposed its weaponisation, militarisation and an arms race. Its recent donation to the United Nations of a lunar soil sample collected by the Chang’e-6 mission from the far side of the Moon offers a tangible example of what space exploration can serve: scientific discovery, multilateral cooperation and the common interests of humanity.”

China and Brazil should lead the Global South toward collective self-reliance

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, who is also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and Director of the Foreign Affairs Office of the CPC Central Committee, met with Chief Advisor to the President of Brazil for Foreign Policy, Celso Amorim, in Beijing, on September 16.

Wang Yi conveyed President Xi Jinping’s warm greetings to President Lula, stating that under the strategic guidance of the two heads of state, China-Brazil relations have in recent years achieved leapfrog development from comprehensive strategic partners to communities with a shared future. The global, strategic, and long-term nature of their relationship has become more prominent, and it has become a model of unity and cooperation among major powers in the Global South. Both sides, he added, should strengthen strategic cooperation on major international and regional issues, continue to stand on the side of international fairness and justice, jointly hold high the torch of multilateralism, and lead the Global South toward collective self-reliance.

Amorim conveyed President Lula’s sincere greetings to President Xi Jinping, stating that both China and Brazil are major countries in the Global South and can genuinely contribute to world peace and stability. In the current international situation of turmoil and instability, Brazil-China relations transcend the bilateral scope and carry increasing significance. Both sides should strengthen communication and cooperation on multilateral platforms such as BRICS and jointly contribute to promoting world peace and development.

Iranian Foreign Minister: Tehran is fully prepared to deepen strategic coordination with Beijing

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi visited Beijing on September 16 and held talks with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi.

The website of the Chinese Foreign Ministry reports that Wang Yi stated that the current situation in the Middle East remains turbulent, seriously affecting international peace and development. As a permanent member of the UN Security Council, China is willing to play a constructive role in resolving international disputes. China and Iran are comprehensive strategic partners, and China is also willing to strengthen dialogue and cooperation with Iran to safeguard Iran’s legitimate rights and interests. The continuation of the US-Iran war does not serve the common interests of the parties involved or the international community. We encourage Iran and the United States to remain rational and restrained, to return to the Memorandum of Understanding agreed in Islamabad as soon as possible, restructure negotiation mechanisms based on the consensus reached so far and conduct substantive consultations on issues of mutual concern. We support Iran’s dialogue with Gulf countries, respect for each other’s territorial sovereignty and national security, and safeguarding regional common interests in a constructive manner.

Wang further pointed out that the current situation once again proves that the existing security framework in the Middle East is not yet complete and needs reform and strengthening. During his visit to Egypt, President Xi Jinping put forward four proposals to support regional countries in upholding a common, comprehensive, cooperative, and sustainable security concept and building a new security architecture for the Middle East. We welcome beneficial exploration by regional countries on this topic. On Middle East issues, as a responsible major power, China will continue to contribute to peace and stability, to promoting peace talks, and to fairness and justice.

Araghchi briefed Wang Yi on the latest situation in the Middle East and the Gulf region and Iran’s next steps, stating that Iran does not want the conflict to continue and hopes to return to diplomatic resolution channels while firmly safeguarding its own interests. Iran believes the US-Iran Memorandum of Understanding remains valid, Iran has reached a plan with Oman to open the Strait of Hormuz, and the US should fulfil all its commitments. Iran is also willing to engage in dialogue and consultation with regional countries, establish and develop good-neighbourly and friendly relations, and promote the early restoration of peace and tranquillity in the region. Iran welcomes and supports President Xi Jinping’s four propositions for maintaining peace and stability in the Middle East and the four initiatives for promoting regional common security. It is willing to strengthen cooperation with China within this framework and looks forward to China playing a greater role in regional peace and stability.

The Tehran Times reported that Araghchi expressed strong support for President Xi Jinping’s landmark proposals on safeguarding peace in the Middle East, declaring that Tehran is fully prepared to deepen strategic coordination with Beijing to build a sustainable regional security framework.

The English language Iranian daily reported that: “Amid China’s consistent contributions to regional and global peace and stability, Araghchi’s call for a greater Beijing-led role further underscores the diplomatic significance of his visit.

“This is the second time that the Iranian foreign minister has paid an official visit to China since the US and Israel launched their war on Iran in late February. Araghchi last visited China in May, shortly before a trip by President Donald Trump to the country. Araghchi’s Wednesday visit comes ahead of the upcoming trip by President Xi to the US, where he will meet Trump.

“China is a trusted partner not only for Iran but also for other countries in the Middle East, in addition to maintaining open communication channels with Washington.

“When viewed alongside China’s principled stance during the Iran-US war, its emphasis on prioritising dialogue over confrontation, the two four-point initiatives put forward by President Xi, and his latest call for a ‘due role’ in resolving the conflict through BRICS, the significance of Araghchi’s trip becomes even clearer.”

The Tehran Times concluded: “By offering visionary peace initiatives and standing firmly against unilateralism and hegemony, Beijing provides a vital pillar of support for independent nations confronting external aggression. This diplomatic momentum underscores China’s constructive leadership and its contribution to advancing lasting security, development, and peace in the region.”

For its part, the Palestine Chronicle noted that Araghchi had stressed Iran’s strategic partnership with China and said that decisions being taken amid current regional developments would have “enormous repercussions.” It added:

“Against this backdrop, Tehran and Beijing have intensified diplomatic coordination, with Iran presenting China as an important strategic partner in shaping the political response to the war and its wider economic consequences.

“Araghchi said the choices being made during the current period would extend beyond the immediate crisis, affecting the future balance of power and political arrangements across the region.”